Asian Motifs in Eighteenth-Century Siberian

Text and Photographs by William Craft Brumfield

ussi a 's eng ag emen t wi th Asi an pe o p l e s and century, such as the Church of the Twelve Apostles cultures forms a topic whose boundaries have in the Kremlin. However, the yet to be thoroughly explored, particularly pediments of certain eighteenth-century Siberian Rin the relationship between Russian and Asicahnu rches have a particularly sharp and elevated architecture. As an artifact demanding significant “fiery” form reminiscent of widespread Buddhist resources as well as building skills, architecture iconographic and decorative forms. It seems to involves numerous factors related to social, us that the decisive factor resides precisely in economic, and cultural history. The present article taxonomic details. Furthermore, the presence of will not attempt to give a detailed examination of explicitly Buddhist motifs on the facades of Siberian this broader topic of Russo-Asian relations, but will monuments suchas the C hurch of the Elevation of the point to specific instances, primarily in Siberian Cross in I rkutsk demonstrates the acceptance of such church architecture of the eighteenth century, motifs in eighteenth-century Siberian church design that suggest a Russian receptivity to East Asian Although the most obvious examples of this ornamentation. It is plausible that the growth of tendency occur in eastern , we will suggest trade between and East Asia (especially that the appearance of Asian decorative motifs China) would have created the possibilities for occurred relatively early in western Siberian cities borrowing in architecture, particularly of decorative such as . This is plausible because of the motifs that could be disseminated in printed form. role that Tobolsk played as the “” of Siberia Indeed, it would appear that this receptivity for much of the eighteenth century. Indeed, we was encouraged precisely by the highly ornamental know at least one case in which the same builders styles of Muscovite and Ukrainian “” church were present in both Tobolsk and at this architecture brought to Siberia by church prelates early stage of masonry construction in Siberia. For and builders from and the Russian north example, one of the oldest historic buildings of in the early part of the eighteenth century. This Tobolsk is the Church of the Savior (Fig. 1), built Russo-Ukrainian tendency toward elaborate facade to the north of the kremlin in 1709-13 and similar ornamentation, which lasted in “” in some details to the contemporary Savior Church architecture throughout the eighteenth century, in Irkutsk (see Fig. 3). In form and ornament it created a tolerance for decorative motifs from a represents a combination of seventeenth-century variety of other sources, including the shrines, or Muscovite design (the geometrically imprecise stupas, of East Asian Buddhist culture.1 As will be ground plan, the heavy but visually impressive seen below, these motifs are in some cases clear brickwork) and flamboyant decorative motifs.3 quotations from Buddhist art. In other examples, The most visible elements on the facade of such as complex, steeply elevated window the Savior Church are the high ogival pediments pediments, the possibility of Asian derivation is (referred to as “fiery,” because of their resemblance based on the formal resemblance to stupa forms and to flames) above the main . A similar devotional objects such as metal Buddhist lamps.2 motif appeared on the northeast chapel of the Of course, various interpretations are possible Trinity Church in Tiumen (Fig. 2), constructed at for the homomorphic characteristics of many of the same time and probably by masons supervised these decorative figures. And there are numerous by the same master, Matvei Maksimov of Tobolsk.4 examples of complex ogival window pediments Although there is as yet no clear explanation for in Russian church architecture of the seventeenth the appearance of this motif, the general outline

The Harriman Review 1 (1) Church of the Savior (Tobolsk), east view.

bears a resemblance to the tapering vertical form styles and varied forms combined Russian and of the stupa (suburgan) in Buddhist architecture Ukrainian influences with motifs that in some of south and East Asia, including Mongolia. One cases seem derived from Asian, Buddhist sources. could even note the crown of flames that often Moscow, of course, played a central role in appears above the head of the Buddha. Almost defining the forms of religious architecture in S iberia, all major Siberian settlements were in some way but the pioneering culture of the Russian north—in connected by trading contacts with East Asia, towns such as , , Velikii Ustiug, and and this elaborate ogival design appears on also provided inspiration for the eighteenth-century churches throughout eastern churches of Irkutsk.9 The construction surge during Siberia, from Yeniseisk to the Transbaikal area.5 the middle of the eighteenth century gave rise to a Eastern motifs are particularly rich in the c hurch rich urban silhouette created by the positioning of architecture of Irkutsk, located on the banks of the churches, with their vertical accents of and Angara R iver, a t ributary of the Yenisei. After various towers, along the city's thoroughfares, streets, and attempts to found a winter base on the Angara rivers.10 during the 1650s, a log fort was constructed in 1661 This process unfolded with special creativity in on the eventual site of Irkutsk, at the confluence of eighteenth-century monuments such as the Church the Angara and Irkut Rivers.6 The original purpose of the Miraculous Icon of the Savior (Fig. 3), whose of the settlement was to establish Russian authority basic design reflects the parish architecture of and trade with the region's aboriginal Buriats. Moscow and at the end of the seventeenth Additional forts were built in 1668-69, and Irkutsk century. For its time, this is a rare example of an grew rapidly by virtue of its favorable location attributed structure, built by the architect Moisei among them. In 1686 it gained the status of town, Ivanovich Dolgikh, a descendant of Moscow and shortly thereafter began sending caravans masons. Experienced masons were a rarity in to China, which ultimately became an important Siberia, and the state Siberian Office (Sibirskii prikaz) source of trade and cultural influence for Irkutsk.7 created in Verkhotur'e and Tobolsk a base of cadres By the beginning of the eighteenth century, who could be sent to other Siberian towns. Archival Irkutsk, whose log fort had been rebuilt in 1670, was evidence indicates that Dolgikh had joined one of rapidly becoming the undisputed administrative the earliest groups of master builders (podmaster'ia) and commercial center of eastern Siberia. One sent to Siberia—specifically, Tobolsk—in 1687.11 of the clearest signs of this growing importance Having spent ten years at work on the large is the number of large masonry churches, which ensemble surrounding the Sophia Cathedral in made Irkutsk one of the most significant centers of Tobolsk, Dolgikh apparently returned to Moscow church design in Siberia, rivaled only by Tobolsk without official leave from Tobolsk, worked an in western Siberia.8 Their profusion of decorative additional five years in Moscow, and concluded

2 The Harriman Review Clockwise from top left:

(2) Trinity Monastery, Cathedral of the Trinity (Tiumen), east view;

(3) Church of Mandilion Icon of the Savior (Irkutsk), southeast view;

(4) Church of the Mandilion Icon of the Savior (Irkutsk), south view.

The Harriman Review 3 a new con t rac t wit h the voevoda in Verkh o tur ' e. 12 Dymkovo could only have occurred later, the From there he was sent to Irkutsk in 1701. links between the two areas continued throughout Construction of the Savior Church—situated at the eighteenth century. the south wall of the fort near the Angara River— By the middle decades of the eighteenth century, began in 1706 with support from the voevoda A. Irkutsk advanced to a new level of commercial I. Siniavin and the townspeople. In 1710 the two- importance in Siberia. Not only was the majority of story cuboid structure was completed and its its population involved in entrepreneurial activity primary altar consecrated by Varlaam, the first of one form or another, but its merchantry assumed bishop to serve in Irkutsk.13 Of the new church's an increasingly important role in guiding the two stories the lower was originally used in city—particularly in the absence of an established traditional as a storehouse for fur local nobility.18 Although the state administration pelts and other valuables until 1713, when a second of still ruled with a strong altar, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, was consecrated hand and provided few meaningful guarantees for winter services in this space.14 The surrounds of of individual rights, eighteenth-century Irkutsk the main windows on all facades culminate in the demonstrates the relative freedom within which vertical, “flaring” pediments similar to those of the private initiative developed in certain parts of Church of the Savior in Tobolsk. Indeed, this is the Siberia, as opposed to with its earliest known appearance of these stupa-like forms more rigid social structure based on serfdom. in eastern Siberian architecture. The dominant The details of Irkutsk's economic growth component of the Church of the Savior appeared would require a separate study, but the 1760s held almost half a century later with the construction a spe ci a l s ig n ifi can ce wi th the devel op men t of in 1758-62 of a bell tower (Fig. 4) at the west end the Moscow Road, more reliable in comparison of the vestibule. Its massive octagonal form, which with the earlier network of trails, rivers, and literally overshadows the rest of the church, rises portages from Eniseisk. Irkutsk's status as a major from a cuboid base that also contains two altars. administrative and economic center for Siberia The most distinctive feature of the Savior gained new recognition with the establishment Church is its exterior frescoes. Originally painted in in 1764 of Irkutsk Province (guberniia), including tempera at the beginning of the nineteenth century for a time Yakutiia, the Far East, and even Alaska. and subsequently repainted in oil, the frescoes are And in 1768 the state sanctioned annual trade located on the south and east facades.15 While the fairs in Irkutsk, which further strenghthened the former portray sacred images of Saint Mitrofan city's position as the leading center of commerce of Voronezh, Saint Nicholas, and, the Miraculous in Siberia, with trade extending from the Orient to Image of the Savior (on the south facade of the European Russia. Although Kiakhta was the main apse), the east wall above the apsidal structure is point of entry for the China trade, Irkutsk was the divided into three large scenes: the Procession of channel through which almost all these goods-- the Cross into the Water (often interpreted as the including tea—were transshipped.19 baptism of the Buriats), the Baptism of Christ (in This surge of economic vitality naturally led to the center), and the Sanctification of Innokentii the construction of new buildings, such as a large Kul'chitskii, first bishop of the Eparchy of Irkutsk Merchants Court (gostinnyi dvor; not extant), begun and Nerchinsk. in 1778 to a plan attributed to the prominent St. Although such exterior frescoes are unique Petersburg architect . But the in Siberia and rare in Russian church architecture wealth of Irkutsk was also reflected in its churches, generally, there is a possible predecessor in the large whose construction had been supported by exterior fresco of Christ Pantokrator on the east wall merchant patronage from the town's earliest days.20 of the Church of Saint Dmitrii (1700-09) at Dymkova This is not merely an issue of financial largesse, for Sloboda near Velikii Ustiug.16 As elsewhere in it would appear that the distinctive architectural Siberia, the connections between Velikii Ustiug and styles of Irkutsk churches—in both structure and early Irkutsk were many, and included not only the decoration—are redolent of oriental as well as contributions of explorers and skilled artisans, but western cultural currents brought together by the also the spiritual traditions of the Russian north. In city's merchantry. As one Russian historian has that regard it is worth noting that in 1703 settlers noted in regard to Irkutsk in the middle eighteenth from Velikii Ustiug built one of Irkutsk's earliest century: “The newly wealthy merchantry invests churches, dedicated to Saints Prokopii and Ioann large amounts in the construction of a whole series of Ustiug.17 And although the influence of the of major, richly-decorated churches that within a

4 The Harriman Review short space of time replace earlier wooden c hurches. traditions of the Russian north and the Urals, from Merchants frequently supervised the erection of Sol'vychegodsk to and Verkhotur 'e.25 these churches, as a result of which the artistic Yet closerinspection of the f acade o rnamentation, qualities of the buildings depended, apparently, which is being carefully restored, shows clear not only on the client—the clergy—but also on the traces of Buddhist motifs, such as the terra cotta merchantry. The tastes of the latter not infrequently images of sacred Dharma wheels on the north and were formed under the influence of contact with south facades (Figs. 9, 10). There are also intricate the peoples of Siberia and the Orient.”21 stupa-like forms in terra cotta framing the north This meeting of cultures is particularly evident and south portals. And on the corners of the main in one of the most interesting masonry buildings structure there are relief outlines of ornamental erected in Siberia during the eighteenth century, figures that suggest humanoid forms, including the the Church of the Elevation of the Cross, built in presence of a large heart. Although the origins of stages between 1747 and 1760 on the Hill of the the above motifs have not been precisely defined, Cross. From its bell tower and steeple over the west it seems that the active trade between Irkutsk and end to its panoply of Ukrainian-style over China played a role in the design of this cross the vestibule and main sanctuary in the east, this cultural work of art. Furthermore, it is not unlikely church remains even now a dominant presence that Indian temple motifs were accessible through in the southern part of historic Irkutsk (Figs. 5, 6). the caravan routes. In this respect the involvement Its site had earlier been occupied by a log church of the merchant Fedor Shcherbakov in the design constructed in 1717-19 and dedicated to the of the church should not be ruled out, despite his Trinity and to Saint . In 1740 unsuccessful petition of 1740. Fedor Shcherbakov, a merchant with important Russian art historians have long noted the connections in foreign trade, petitioned the eparchy oriental character of Irkutsk church architecture, to rebuild the church in brick, but his request was without providing specific details as to sources. denied. A subsequent petition by Ivan Amosov, a , for example, in his pioneering History local entrepreneur and craftsman, was approved of Russian Art (1909) compared the facade of the by the church in 1746.22 Although documentary Church of the Elevation of the Cross to an elaborate evidence concerning the church donors is lacking, it eastern carpet.26 It is also known that craftsmen from is known that at least two of Amosov's sons enrolled the region's Buriat populations participated in local in a masons' guild during the time of construction, church construction in the eighteenth century, 27 and it is therefore possible that they were the although masonry Buddhist temples in Buriat areas primary builders, if not patrons, of the church.23 did not appear until the early nineteenth century. As with its log predecessor, the main altar All of these strands, from Ukraine to the of the new church was originally consecrated to Orient, contributed to the tapestry that has been the Trinity in 1758. Other altars of what was then called by some the “Siberian baroque.”28 Whatever known as the Trinity Church were dedicated to the questions about the validity of this term— the Elevation of the Cross, the Dormition, and which derives more closely from the intricate Saint Sergius of Radonezh. In 1779 the donations facade decorations of the late seventeenth-century of two merchants led to the construction of a large “Moscow baroque” style than from baroque chapel attached to the north facade, and in 1860 the architecture as understood in central Europe and architect Vladislav Kudel'skii constructed a large St. Petersburg—it is a convenient way of signifying narthex at the west end of the church. In 1867 the the distinctly ornamental character of eighteenth- main altar was reconsecrated to the Elevation of the century Siberian church architecture. Even within Cross, which henceforth became the name of the this designation, there are significant regional church.24 differences, as is clear from a comparison of late For the structural center of the Church of the eighteenth-century churches in Tobolsk with Elevation of the C ross, there are obvious connections churches from the same period in Irkutsk. not only with the Siberian variations on traditional Elements of this decorative program also Orthodox parish architecture in European Russia appear on the bell tower of the Church of the Icon of (the basic cuboid structure with no interior piers), the Virgin of the Sign at Znamenskii Convent, one but also with the vertical vaulting systems of the of the oldest religious foundations in Irkutsk.29 In (Figs. 7, 8). At the same time the usual practice, the original church was of logs, the Church of the Elevation of the Cross interprets constructed in 1693 and again in 1727. Three decades this legacy in ways that reflect the building later the Irkutsk merchant Ivan Bechevin, who held

The Harriman Review 5 (5) Church of the Elevation of the Cross (Irkutsk), southeast view.

6 The Harriman Review (6) Church of the Elevation of the Cross (Irkutsk), north view; (7-8) Church of the Elevation of the Cross (Irkutsk), interior.

The Harriman Review 7 Top: (9) Church of the Elevation of the Cross (Irkutsk), north facade, decorative detail;

Bottom: (10) Church of the Elevation of the Cross (Irkutsk), north facade.

Opposite page: (11) Church of Icon of the Sign, Convent of Icon of the Sign (Irkutsk), south facade.

8 The Harriman Review v* 't5; T h e

H a r r i m a n

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9 Top left: (12) Convent of the Church of the Sign (Irkutsk), interior;

Top right: (13 Church of Saint Kharlampii (Archangel Michael), (Irkutsk), southwest facade;

Bottom: (14) Church of Mandilion Icon of the Savior (Irkutsk), southeast view.

10 The Harriman Review (15) Church of the Purification (Bel'sk), south view. a lucrative liquor monopoly from the state, received headdresses of the region's native peoples (figure permission from the consistory administration to 9), but also could be related to the stupa form.33 donate funds for the construction of a masonry The lower facade of the church is decorated with church at the convent.30 The Znamenskii Convent the scroll outlines of cartouches that bear a close church was completed by 1762 (Figs. 11, 12). Two resemblance to late eighteenth-century churches in subsequent building stages, also supported by the northern town of Totma.34 private donations, created altar chapels on the The Savior Church at Urik is less grand in south (1770-73) and on the north (1791-94).31 The its proportions and detailing, but its general decoration of the main cuboid structure of the resemblance to the Archangel Church is so close as church combines seventeenth-century dentilation to suggest a single source for the design (Fig. 14). on the cornices with simple window surrounds Indeed, the Savior C hurch was begun in the summer capped by inverted volutes known as “curls”—a of 1775, and thus can be seen as a prototype for the feature of late eighteenth-century church decoration larger church in Irkutsk. The lower (winter) altar of in the Urals and western Siberia. The octagonal the Savior Church was consecrated in 1779, while bell tower follows the traditional form for Irkutsk the upper altar (for summer use) was apparently churches, but also displays the eight-spoke motif consecrated only in 1796. The decorative motifs on found on the facades of the Church of the Elevation the north and south facades are particularly close to of the Cross. those of the Irkutsk church, with the same mixture During the 1770s Irkutsk church architecture of baroque and eastern patterns. It should be noted continued a tendency toward greater stan that the village itself, located at the confluence of dardization, exemplified by two very similar the Urik and Kuda rivers, is associated with the structures: the Church of the A rchangel Michael and exile of a number of the Decembrists.35 the Church of the Miraculous Icon of the Savior at A fina l examp l e of p oss i bl e eas te rn m ot if s o n Urik, a large village some 18 kilometers to the north the facades of churches in the Irkutsk region is the of Irkutsk. The A rchangel Church (also known as the Church of the Purification in the village (and ostrog) Church of Saint Kharlampii) was begun in 1777 with of Belsk, on the Belaia River. Completed after 1788, a gran t of 15,000 ru bl e s fr o m the mer c hant Va s i l ii this now roofless church is simple in form (only Balakshin.32 Although the structure was defaced one story), but has intriguing decorative panels in the 1930s by the dismantling of the bell tower above the main windows (Fig. 15). These panels and the cupolas, its low-relief facade decoration provide what seems clearly to be a simple outline has largely been preserved (Fig. 13). Here as well, of the stupa shrine form. However, no documentary eastern motifs appear above the upper windows evidence has been discovered that would explain in decorative elements that resemble the festive the presence of these forms in a village church.36

The Harriman Review 11 (16-17) Cathedral of Hodigitria Icon of Mother of God (Ulan Ude, Buriatiia), southeast and south views.

Beyond the eastern shores of Lake Baikal, and at that site, on a bluff above the merging rivers, Russia's engagement with indigenous cultures— the fort of Udinsk was established in October 1665 particularly the Buriats—assumes a greater variety as a wintering outpost.37 of forms. The initial development of Russian During the final decades of the seventeenth settlements in the area to the south and east of Lake century, the importance of the Udinsk settlement Baikal (known as Transbaikal or, more broadly, as a grain distribution point increased, as did the Dauriia) began in the middle of the seventeenth size of the fort, despite the nominal superiority century. In this initial state Cossacks and sluzhilye of the Selenginsk fort (see below), located closer liudi (people in service) explored new trading to the Chinese border. The Treaty of Nerchinsk, routes to the China and, more immediately, sought concluded between Russia and China in 1689, tribute in the form of furs (particularly sable) required Russian withdrawal from large areas along from local populations such as the Buriats and the the Amur River, but led to increased stability for Tungus. The earliest Russian fort (ostrog) in this the remaining Russian settlements such as Udinsk, great territory was founded in 1648 on an arm of which benefited not only from trade but also high- the Barguzin River, some forty kilometers from the level diplomatic travel to China.38 The settlement's eastern shore of Lake Baikal. first church, dedicated to the Most Merciful Savior, However, the direction of Russian settlement in was built of logs in 1696. western Transbaikal soon shifted to the south, along The growing importance of Verkneudinsk the more convenient Selenga River. The Selenga, (“Upper Udinsk”), as it became known in the originating in Mongolia and the main river emptying eighteenth century, derived equally from its role as into the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, served from the administrative center of the western Transbaikal the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries as a region and from its position on one of the most major conduit for trade and settlement to the east. It important oriental trade routes, from Irkutsk to the became clear that the primary strategic location on towns of Kiakhtinskaia Sloboda and Troitskosavsk the Selenga was its confluence with the Uda River, on the Mongolian border. By 1780 the town had two

12 The Harriman Review (23) Church of Mother of God (Irkutsk), south facade. annual trade fairs, in late winter and midsummer. Hodigitria Icon suggest connections with earlier Like other Russian provincial towns during the churches in the Irkutsk area, such as the Church of reign of Catherine the Great, Verkhneudinsk was the Miraculous Icon of the Savior in Irkutsk and, provided with a highly ordered city grid plan, more closely, the Church of the Miraculous Icon approved in 1793.39 Although the plan was modified of the Savior at Urik and the Church of Archangel in 1839, many of its features remain to this day. Michael (Saint Kharlampii) in Irkutsk-all clear The economic activity of Verkhneudinsk examples of the “Siberian baroque.”41 ultimately enabled the completion of the town's first The cathedral's double arched pediments masonry church, the Cathedral of the Hodigitria over the windows and the articulated window Icon of the Mother of God (Fig. 16), begun in 1741 surrounds (Fig. 17) are characteristic of eighteenth- at the site of a log church of the same name, built at century church design from the Urals eastward, the beginning of the eighteenth century. In a pattern including the Eniseisk area. Additional baroque typical of brick church construction, from the features include the volutes bracing the drums Russian north to Solikamsk to Eniseisk and Irkutsk, beneath the main and altar cupolas, as well as the the structure was constructed in two stages. The oval windows at the roofline. lower church (for use in the winter) was completed Eastern elements, however, are more clearly in 1770, with an altar dedicated to the Epiphany. The visible in another example of late eighteenth- upper church, with the main altar, was consecrated century Orthodox architecture in Buriatiia: the only in 1785.40 Not surprisingly, the basic design cathedral of the Transfiguration Monastery, located and the exterior detail of the Cathedral of the in the village of Posolskoe on the eastern shore of

The Harriman Review 13 Lake Baikal. The origins of the monastery were arrangement of components and their proportions complicated by disputes with the nearby Trinity- resembles that of the Hodigitria Cathedral in Selenginsk Monastery, whose monks were given the Verkhneudinsk. The facade ornamentation, how land and fishing rights along that section of Lake ever, is of a different order. Unfortunately, the Baikal as part of their holdings. By the end of the Transfiguration Church was severely damaged seventeenth century the treasurer of the monastery, during the Soviet era, when the domes over both Makarii, had built a small chapel to commemorate the main structure and the apse, in addition to the site of the murder, in 1661, of Erofei Zabolotskii, the entire upper part of the main structure, were the tsar 's emissary to Mongolia, whose party was dismantled. Nonetheless, enough remains of attacked by local Buriats.42 From that time the site the facades to reveal the intricacy of the church's was called “Posolskoe.” ornamental brickwork (Fig. 19). Even the Hodigitria However, Metropolitan Ignatii of Siberia and Cathedral falls short of this level of embellishment, Tobolsk decided to expand the memorial and in despite the general similarity of outline between 1700 issued a charter stipulating the addition of the two churches. an altar to the chapel, thus creating a full church The deeply-profiled windows of the dedicated to the Icon of the Virgin of the Sign. The Transfiguration Church, with terra cotta maintenance of this church led to the establishment and linked scroll pediments above the second of a separate monastic institution, supported by level, are complimented by a robust, if naive, two edicts (in 1707 and 1713) from Peter I over the dentilation that separates the two levels of the opposition of the Trinity Monastery, which saw structure. Similar motifs are present in other Enisei its holdings suddenly lessened by the division.43 River basin churches, specifically in Eniseisk itself. During this period the new monastery at Posolskoe Other facade motifs suggest comparison with had the active support of Grigorii Oskolkov, a contemporary church architecture in Irkutsk. For prominent merchant associated with the trading example, the intricate terra cotta relief figures on center at Kiakhtinskaia Sloboda.44 Oskolkov, who the corners of each of the structural components of was buried at the monastery in 1714, had provided the Transfiguration Church remind of the stylized substantial contributions toward construction of humanoid figures on the corners of the Church of the monastery's main church (sobor), dedicated the Elevation of the Cross. to the Transfiguration of the Savior. This support The most remarkable feature of the included the preparation of some 300,000 Transfiguration Church is its elevated west portal and other building materials, but the project for a (Fig. 20), with a uniquely elaborate profiled frame. brick church was halted when Peter I banned all To be sure, there are direct comparisons with masonry construction outside his new capital, St. such Eniseisk monuments as the Church of the Petersburg.45 Instead, the Transfiguration Church Trinity (Fig. 21), begun in 1772, completed on the was built of logs and dedicated in 1722. exterior in 1776, and on the interior in the 1780s.46 Paradoxically, the fate of the Transfiguration Containing elements of church design from the Monastery improved after a fire in 1769 destroyed Vologda territory and the Urals, the Trinity Church both its wooden churches, as well as part of the also displayed features peculiar to Siberia, both monastic housing. Despite a downgrading of the western and eastern. Although this remarkably monastery's status during the reign of Catherine beautiful church was largely dismantled during the the Great, the means were found to revive the Soviet period and the remainder used as a shed and project for a brick church, particularly since the barn, the extant structure has distinctive window bricks gathered by Oskolkov some sixty years surrounds with tower pediments that suggest the earlier were still at hand. Work on the Church of possible influence of Asian motifs. the Transfiguration (Fig. 18) began in 1773 and Whatever the similarities between the west concluded in 1778, perhaps with the help of masons portal at Posolskoe and the surviving fragments of from Irkutsk, accessible through a relatively direct the west facade of the Eniseisk Trinity Church, the crossing of Lake Baikal. Posolskoe church displays a more flamboyant use of In its plan the Transfiguration Church reflects this framing technique, culminating over the in a ty pi ca l S i be rian co mpo s it i on con t a ining a gro u nd a bur st of s pac e defined by a cu rved pedimen t. Th i s level church (dedicated to the Icon of the Sign) for complex form of outlining in depth also appears in use in the winter and an upper church with the the windows of the main structure of the Church main altar and two levels of windows. From apse of the Elevation of the Cross in Irkutsk. The north to main structure to refectory and bell tower, the and south portals of the Irkutsk church, however,

14 The Harriman Review (18-19) Cathedral of Transfiguration of the Savior, Transfiguration Monastery (Posol'skoe, Buriatiia).

The Harriman Review 15 Counter-clockwise from top left: (20) Cathedral of Transfiguration of the Savior, Transfiguration Monastery (Posol'skoe, Buriatiia); (21) Church of the Trinity (Eniseisk, Krasnoiarsk), west facade; (22) Church of the Intercession (Krasnoiarsk), northeast view.

16 The Harriman Review show a different resolution—remarkable in its own influence from Buddhist or other indigenous Asian way—conveyed through the use of elaborate terra sources. It is, nonetheless, reasonable to assume cotta ornament. Furthermore, the original west such influence, particularly in view of the primary portal of the Irkutsk church was obscured by later mission of the Transfiguration Monastery: to rebuilding and extensions. propagate the Orthodox faith among the Buriats. Thus the portal of the Transfiguration Church In this regard the entrance to the Transfiguration at Posolskoe is highly unusual form both by virtue Church would have projected a striking image of of its state of preservation and by the degree of its Orthodoxy in Asia.48 decorative elaboration. The impression created by One of the latest eighteenth-century examples the ensemble of the west facade—portal, profiled of Asian motifs in facade ornamentation occurs at frame, and relief figures on each corner--is far the Church of the Intercession in Krasnoiarsk, the from typical in Orthodox architecture. Indeed, oldest extant monument in the city. Begun in 1785, the extraordinary, archaic force of the design is the church had two side altars that were completed unsettling, as though creating the entry to a temple in 1790, but the main altar was not consecrated until of some obscure rite. As with the related forms and 1795.49 The main structure of the church consists of ornamental motifs on the facades of other churches a hig h cen t ra l s pac e culm ina t ing in an ex t ended in the Enisei River basin, there exists the possibility drum and . But the exterior facade, painted of oriental derivation at Posolskoe, even though red with white detail, is defined on the lower level the Transfiguration Church lacks obvious Buddhist by large ornamental motifs that again suggest Asian references such as the Dharma wheels at the Church origins—both the stupa and lotus forms (Fig. 22).50 of the Elevation of the Cross. Indeed, Buddhism, in With the transition to normative neoclassical its Indo-Tibetan variant, is not the only possible forms in church architecture of the Irkutsk region source for the ornamentation, particularly when at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the compared with the artistry of Buriat, or even Yakut, possibilities for o rnamental borrowingsdisappeared. culture. The late nineteenth century, however, witnessed the In view of the diversity of possible sources, the reappearance of eclectic exuberance in the church question of architectural derivation at Posolskoe architecture of Irkutsk. This is particularly evident remains very much a matter for speculation. in the boldly polychromatic Church of the Kazan One specialist has stated unequivocally that the Icon of the Mother of God (not to be confused with Transfiguration Church and the Church of the the destroyed Irkutsk main cathedral of the same Elevation of the Cross were built by the same dedication). Endowed by the merchant Alexander architect: “A close study of the architecture of Sibiriakov and built in 1885-92, the Kazan church [the Church of the Transfiguration] enables one reflects a florid variant of the Russo-Byzantine style to confirm that it was built by the architect of common in the late imperial period (Fig. 23).51 the Church of the Elevation of the Cross. In the Yet, the structure's b rilliant orange walls, deeply architecture of the Church of the Transfiguration of articulated and surmounted by a panoply of blue the Savior, the motifs that had been developed in and white checked cupolas, suggest something the amazing Irkutsk temple are not only repeated, closer to the British Raj in nineteenth-century India they are reworked in a new way, and—the main than to typical Russian church design of the same thing—they are applied with a convincing economy period. The colors of the walls remind one of the and logic.”47 red sandstone work applied in the so-called Indo Yet in purely formal terms the west, main Saracenic style, which also frequently displayed a facade of the Posolskoe church is closer to that multitude of polychrome domes.52 The comparison of the Trinity Church in Eniseisk. Is it possible is all the more appropriate when considering the that the same master (or masters) was involved proximity of Irkutsk to Asia. As a competing in the construction of all three churches: Irkutsk, imperial power in Asia, Russia was certainly aware Eniseisk, Posolskoe? And how well did the master of the British manner of imperial rule in India and (or masters) know the patterns of Asian ornament? the uses of architecture in that style. And whatever Certainly the Enisei-Angara-Baikal waterway the identity of the Kazan Church architect (probably provided a ready conduit for ideas, people, and trained in or a resident of St. Petersburg), he could materials, while the Selenga River continued the have seen published illustrations of British imperial path to Mongolia and China. But in the absence architecture in India. Indeed, the increased scale of documentary evidence this position remains of church construction in Siberia, even before the hypothetical, as does the possibility of ornamental Trans-Siberian Railway, represents a similar use

The Harriman Review 17 of imposing, symbol-laden architectural forms as and Alexander Soper, The Art and Architecture of China a way of establishing state presence over a large (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971), 389-92, 402, territory in Asia. 405-07. The preceding survey of ornamental forms 3. On the eighteenth century architecture of Tobolsk and Tiumen, and the influence of Urkrainian on the facades of Siberian churches (primarily prelates such as Bishop Filofei Leshchinskii, see eighteenth-century) demonstrates the probable William C. Brumfield, “Photographic Documentation of Asian origins of certain of the most visible motifs. Architectural Monuments in Siberia: Tiumen Province,” In particular, the traditional ascending form of the Visual Resources, 16 (2000)4:311-33. stupa, with a pointed, ogival shape seems to have 4. The importance of the Savior Church as a key influenced both the designs of window pediments monument in the so-called “Tobolsk baroque” is and facade ornamentation between church discussed in S. P. Zavarikhin, V drevnem tsentre Sibiri windows. Furthermore, it would seem that these (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1987),136-37; and S. P. Zavarikhin motifs do not reveal an acceptance of Buddhism, and V. V. Kniazhev, Ekologiia zodchestva (St. Petersburg: Stroiizdat, 1995), 152-53. During the Soviet era the entire but are purely ornamental, arising from extensive upper story of the church was demolished, with all mercantile contacts between Siberian cities cupola structures, thus leaving only the first floor. (particularly those near the Mongolian border) 5. The possibility of a connection with the non and China. The specific formal origins, however, Christian architecture of East Asia is also suggested appear to be not Chinese temple architecture, but in V. V. Kirillov, Tobol'sk (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1984), Mongolo-Tibetan, which in turn derive from Indian 103. Although not directly related to the question of forms. These questions deserve further study in the derivation, the views of Anatolii Kulomzin, a high interests of developing our knowledge of Russia's Tsarist official responsible for the settlement of Siberia in relations with Asian culture. the early twentieth century, are telling. On an inspection trip to the Transbaikal region in 1897, he noticed the disparity between the attractive Buddhist temples of the Buriats and the crude forms of hastily-built Russian log churches. This observation suggests that had long taken note of the design of Buddhist William Craft Brumfield, Professor of Russian Studies temples in Asia. See Steven Marks, “Conquering the at Tulane University, has written and photographed a Great East,” in Stephen Kotkin and David Wolff, eds., number of books on , including A Rediscovering Russia in Asia: Siberia and the Russian History of Russian Architecture. The basic collection Far East (Armonk, N. Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1995), 33-34. of his photographic work is held in the Photographic 6. The date of the founding of Irkutsk is discussed Archives at the National Gallery of Art. In 2006 he was in A.N. Kopylov, “O date osnovaniia Irkutska,” Istoriia elected to the Russian Academy of Arts. SSSR,” (1960)5:165-66. See also Dmitrii R ezun, “Po povodu daty osnovaniia Irkutska,” Zemlia Irkutskaia, 1 (1994):4-5. 7. For a general description of the tea trade with China, see Nina Edinarkhova, “O chae i chainoi torgovle,” Zemlia Irkutskaia, 5 (1996):17-18. See also NOTES Vadim Shakherov, “Reformator iz Irkutska (Zhizn' i vzgliady irkutskogo kuptsa Fedora Shchegorina),” Zemlia Irkutskaia, 1 (1994):9-14. 1. A detailed iconographic and formal analysis of 8. A comprehensive survey of all the churches, extant Hindu and Buddhist devotional lamps is presented in and destroyed, in the Irkutsk eparchy is contained in Irina Sean Anderson, Flames of Devotion: Oil Lamps from South Kalinina, Pravoslavnye khramy Irkutskoi eparkhii (Moscow: and Southeast Asia and the Himalayas (Los Angeles: UCLA Galart, 2000). After Tiumen and Tobolsk, Irkutsk became Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 2006). in 1700 the third Siberian city capable of producing 2. For a discussion in English of the Naryshkin bricks on a large scale. See Nadezhda Polunina, U istokov Baroque and late seventeenth-century ornamentalism, kamennogo grada (Irkutsk: VSKI, 1979), 14. see William Craft Brumfield, A History of Russian 9. On the northern origins of Irkutsk settlers and the Architecture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, consequent influence on local church construction, see 1993), 184-93. On the development and meaning of the B. I. Ogly, “Arkhitekturnye pamiatniki Irkutska XVIII- stupa as an architectural manifestation of the Buddha, nachala XIX vv.,” Arkhitekturnoe nasledstvo, 27 (1979):161- see Benjamin Rowland, The Art and 62. More detailed information is provided in I. I. (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1953), 51-54; and Serebrennikov, O starinnikh domakh i tserkvakh v Irkutskoi Debala Mitra, Buddhist Monuments (Calcutta: Sahitya gubernii (Irkutsk, 1915). Samsad, 1969), 21-30. Chinese Buddhist architecture 10. For an analysis on the role of churches in the developed the vertical form as pagoda, but the influence Irkutsk cityscape, see A. V. Korzun, “Osobennosti of the Indian stupa is also evident. See Laurence Sickman kul'tovoi arkhitektury Irkutska,” in A. V. Dulov, ed.,

18 The Harriman Review Pamiatniki istorii i kul'tury Irkutska (Irkutsk: VSKI, 1993), 25. The distinctiveness of the decorative detail of 370-76. See also Ogly, “Arkhitekturnye pamiatniki,” 168. the church of the Cross and its relation to the churches 11. On the career of Dolgikh in Siberia, see Nadezhda of the Russian north and Solikamsk is eloquently stated Polunina, Zhivaia starina Priangar'ia (Moscow: Iskusstvo, in Georgii K. Lukomskii, Pamiatniki starinnoi arkhitektury 1990), 27-28. Rossii. Nasha Provintsiia (Petrograd: 1916), 92-93. 12. S. V. Kopylova, Kamennoe stroitel'stvo v Sibiri. 26. I. E. Grabar ', Istoriia russkogo iskusstva, vol. Konets XVII-XVIII vv. (,1979), 182-83. 2 (Mosco w: K ne be l , 1909), 143, 146. T he influ en ce of 13. The Irkutsk vicariate was sanctioned in 1706, Mongol and in decorative details but the church in Irkutsk remained subordinate to the such as kokoshniki above the windows was noted in D. A. metropolitanate in Tobolsk. The autonomous eparchy of Boldyrev-Kazantsev, Narodnoe iskusstvo Sibiri (Irkutsk, Irkutsk and Nerchinsk was not established until 1727. 1924), 7. See Tat'iana Romantseva, “Dukhovnyi vertograd Sibiri,” 27. See Ogly, “Arkhitekturnye pamiatniki,” 167. Zemlia Irkutskaia,14 (2000):6-7. 28. On the “Siberian b aroque,” see T. S. Proskuriatova, 14. The dedications of the other altars in the Savior “Osobennosti sibirskogo barokko,” Arkhitekturnoe Church are provided in Kalinina, Pravoslavnye khramy, nasledstvo, 27 (1979):147-160. She notes that the term was 140-41. first defined in Boldyrev-Kazantsev, Narodnoe iskusstvo, 15. On the new Savior Church frescoes, see Polunina, 13-14. U istokov, 76-80. 29. The history of the Monastery of the Icon of the 16. The Church of Saint Dmitrii is described in Sign is surveyed in Natal'ia Torshina, “Znamenskii Genrikh Bocharov and Vsevolod Vygolov, Sol'vychegodsk. monastyr ',” Zemlia Irkutskaia, 10 (1998):24-27. Velikii Ustiug. Tot'ma (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1983), 244-46. 30. This was apparently the third church in Irkutsk See also William Brumfield, “Velikii Ustiug: Vzgliad constructed with money provided by Bechevin, but he cherez ob”ektiv amerikanskogo uchenogo-fotografa,” did not live to see its completion. Bechevin was the in Velikii Ustiug. Kraevedcheskii al'manakh, vol. 2, ed. V. A. most prominent victim of the notorious Peter Krylov, Sablin (Vologda: Legiia, 2000), 355, with accompanying a tax ins p ec to r sent f ro m Saint Pe te rs bu rg in 1758, wh o plates; and William Brumfield, Sviatyni russkogo severa used threats and violence to extort large sums of money (Vologda: ARNIKA, 2001), 23. (over 150,000 rubles) from Irkutsk merchants involved 17. The orginal log church, dedicated to an icon of primarily in the liquor trade. Bechevin's donations to the saints brought from Velikii Ustiug, was replaced in the church and his death at the hands of Krylov are the middle of the eighteenth century by a brick structure surveyed in Kriuchkova, “'...Userdiem i kapitalom',” that was among the most interesting examples of Irkutsk 67-68. The regulation of the liquor trade in Irkutsk, with architecture. Despite its official landmark status granted further references to the Krylov affair, is described in in 1925, the church was closed and destroyed in the Ol'ga Cherniavskaia, “Iz istorii vinokureniia v Irkutskoi 1930s. See Kalinina, Pravoslavnye khramy, 137-39. gubernii,” Zemlia Irkutskaia, 5(1996):22-24. 18. The growth of merchantry in Irkutsk in surveyed 31. Kalinina, Pravoslavnye khramy, 100. in Vadim Shakherov, “Dlia pol'z soobshchestva dostatok 32. The beginning of construction of the Archangel istoshchaia,” Zemlia Irkutskaia, 5 (1996):2-10. Church is dated to May 1779 in Kriuchkova, “'... 19. On the trade fairs, see D. Ia. Rezun and O. N. Userdiem i kapitalom',” 70. But other sources give 1777. Besedina, Gorodskie iarmarki Sibiri XVIII-pervoi poloviny See Kalinina, Pravoslavnye khramy, 127; and Polunina, XIX v. Iarmarki Vostochnoi Sibiri (Novosibirsk: 1993). Zhivaia starina, 56. 20. Merchant patronage of church construction 33. This resemblance is noted in Kalinina, is discussed in Tamara Kriuchkova, “'...Userdiem i Pravoslavnye khramy, 128. kapitalom'. O metsenatstve pri stroitel'stve Irkutskikh 34. On the churches of Totma, see William tserkvei,” Zemlia Irkutskaia, 5 (1996):66-75. C. Brumfield, “Photographic Documentation of 21. Ogly, “Arkhitekturnye pamiatniki,” 162. Architectural Monuments in the Russian North: Vologda 22. The original petition by Shcherbakov led to Province,” Visual Resources, 14 (1998) 1:99-103; and erroneous attributions of patronage of the church in William Brumfield, “Pamiatniki tserkovnoi arkhitektury works such as I. V. Kalinina, “Kul'tovoe pravoslavnoe totemskogo raiona,” in Tot'ma. Kraevedcheskii al'manakh, zodchestvo,” in Dulov, Pamiatniki, 382, 384. Kalinina vol. 3, ed. A. V. Kamkin (Vologda: Legiia, 2001), 282-84, corrects her own error in Pravoslavnye khramy, 113. and plates 9-14. 23. On the relation of the posadskii Amosov to the 35. Connections between the Savior Church and construction of the church, see Kriuchkova, “'...Userdiem the exiled Decembrists in Urik are noted in Kalinina, i ka pit a l o m ',” 67. Pravoslavnye khramy, 397-98. See also Polunina, Zhivaia 24. On the remaning of the various altars and the starina, 136-40; and Tamara Pertseva, “Pis'ma iz Urika,” church as a whole in 1867, see Kalinina, Pravoslavnye Zemlia Irkutskaia, 6 (1996):60-65. khramy, 113. The reason most frequently given for the 36. On the Church of the Purification at Bel'sk, see change was the presence of another large Trinity Church Kalinina, Pravoslavnye khramy, 189. See also William in Irkutsk. It should be noted that such changes were C. Brumfield, “Photographic Documentation of not unusual in Russian Orthodox Churches, particularly Architectural Monuments in the Irkustk Region of after a major renovation. Eastern Siberia,” Visual Resources, 19 (2003) 2:107-147.

The Harriman Review 19 37. A detailed study of the Udinsk fort is contained only as “trefoils” (trilistniki). in Aleksei V. Tivanenko, Udinskii ostrog: pervoe stoletie 51. The philanthropic activity of Aleksandr Sibiriakov Ulan-Ude (Ulan-Ude: BNTs SO RAN,1995). (including the Kazan Church) is surveyed in Kriuchkova, 38. See Aleksandr R. Artem'ev, Goroda i ostrogi “'...Userdiem i kapitalom',” 73-4. Despite the large Zabaikal'ia i Priamur'ia vo vtoroi poloviny XVII-XVIII size of the Kazan Church, its authorship has remained vv. (Vladivostok: DVO RAN, 1999), 72-75. At least two unattributed in specialized sources, even though the major embassies sent by Peter I (in 1693 and 1719) passed names of the painters who worked on the iconostasis through Udinsk. On the latter see John Bell, A Journey have been duly recorded. See Kalinina, Pravoslavnye from St. Petersburg to Pekin (1719-22), edited with an khramy, 120-21. introduction by J. L. Stevenson (New York: Barnes and 52. Among many examples, the Lakshmi Vilas Noble, 1966). Palace, built in Baroda in the 1870s, is of special interest. 39. The city plans are reproduced in Liudvig K. See Thomas R. Metcalf, An Imperial Vision: Indian Minert, Pamiatniki arkhitektury Buriatii (Novosibirsk: Architecture and Britain's Raj (Berkeley: Univ. of California Nauka, 1983), 17. Press, 1989), 112-20. 40. Archival sources on the construction history of the Hodigitria Cathedral are presented in Valerii K. Gur 'ianov, Po Bol'shoi, Bol'shoi Nikolaevskoi (Ulan- Ude: BNTs SO RAN, 1998), 28-29. See also Ekaterina S. Mitypova, Pravoslavnye khramy v Zabaikal'e (XVII-nach. XX vv.) (Ulan-Ude: BGU, 1997), 27-29; and Minert, Pamiatniki, 21-25. 41. References to the cathedral within the broader context of Siberian church architecture are noted in T. S. Proskuriakova, “O traditsionalizme v monumental'noi arkhitketure Sibiri XVIII v.,” Arkhitekturnoe nasledstvo, 34 (1986): 119-20. 42. The slaughter of Zabolotskii's group, which included his son, is recorded in Georgii N. Rumiantsev, Sbornik dokumentov po istorii Buriatii XVII v. (Ulan-Ude: 1960), 192. On the commemoration of Zabolotskii, see Mitypova, Pravoslavnye khramy, 17-18. 43. Minert, Pamiatniki,122-23. 44. Mitypova, Pravoslavnye khramy, 18. 45. Minert, Pamiatniki,123. 46. On the Church of the Trinity, see G. L. Ruksha, G. F. Bykonia, N. I. Drozdov, et al., Pamiatniki istorii i kul'tury krasnoiarskogo kraia, vol. 1 (Krasnoiarsk: Krasnoiarskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stsvo, 1989), 99-101; and Boris V. Gnedovskii and Ella D. Dobrovol'skaia, Vverkh po Eniseiu (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1980), 43-45. 47. Minert, Pamiatniki, 126-27. 48. On the missionary activity of the Transfiguration and Trinity Monasteries, which included the translation of religious texts into Mongolian, see Mitypova, Pravoslavnye khramy, 23. The other surviving brick church at the Transfiguration Monastery was dedicated to Saint Nicholas and built in 1802-1812 to replace a log church assembled after the 1769 fire. This small church had little exterior decoration and was also much disfigured during the Soviet era. 49. On the construction of the Church of the Intercession in Krasnoiarsk, see V. I. Tsarev and V. I. Krushlinskii, Krasnoiarsk: Istoriia i razvitie gradostroitel'stva (Krasnoiarsk: Klaretianum, 2001), 157. 50. G. F. Bykonia, Iu. I. Grinberg and K. Iu. Shumov, “Pokrovskaia tserkov' v Karsnoiarske--pamiatnik arkhitektury XVIII veka,” in G. L. Ruksha, ed., Pamiatniki istorii i kul'tury krasnoiarskogo kraia (Krasnoiarsk: Krasnoiarskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo, 1989), 314-21. The authors refer to the decorative elements on the facade

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